The Valez estate sat on the cliff like a crown carved from bones. Below, the sea crashed violently, screaming secrets to the sky. But inside, it was too quiet.
Too ready.
Alfreda walked through the grand corridor, her heels echoing like gunshots. Chandeliers glimmered above, as if mocking the blood to come.
Behind her, Nathaniel walked in silence, expression carved from stone. But she could feel it—the rage. The restraint. The unraveling.
Ahead, waiting like a ghost returned from hell—Lachlan Valez.
He didn't stand to greet them. Just leaned back in his throne-like leather chair, one leg crossed over the other, like this wasn't a war council. Like he hadn't ordered hits that ruined kingdoms.
"Didn't think you had the guts to bring her here, nephew."
"Call her that again," Nathaniel said, voice low, "and I'll remind you whose blood runs colder."
Lachlan laughed. "So it's true. You've been playing groom to a ticking bomb."
Alfreda smiled. "Careful, Lachlan. I'm the kind of bomb that likes to watch men burn."
He clapped once. "I missed you, girl."
"You buried me."
"You rose."
She sat across from him, legs crossed, fire in her gaze. "Let's talk about what really happened that night. The fire. The explosion. My disappearance."
Lachlan looked at Nathaniel.
But it was Alfreda who dropped the first match.
"You weren't trying to kill me, were you? You were trying to kill her."
Silence.
Nathaniel tensed. "What?"
Alfreda's smile twisted. "Your beloved Celia. Your mentor. Your second mother. She was the target."
Lachlan leaned forward. "She still is."
Nathaniel's voice cracked. "What the hell are you saying?"
Alfreda turned to him, eyes gleaming. "Celia wasn't protecting the orphans. She was using us as leverage. Testing how much your uncle could bleed before he broke."
"She built her own empire," Lachlan said. "Off of my back. Off of my name. She took my operations, my men, and then the kids."
He looked at Alfreda.
"She took you, little flame. Because you were never meant to be a Valez. You were meant to replace us."
Nathaniel stood frozen.
Alfreda took a slow breath. "So the fire… it wasn't revenge."
Lachlan's eyes burned. "It was mercy."
"I buried my monsters. You rose from the grave, Alfreda, not because I failed—but because she hid you."
Nathaniel shook his head. "No. No, Celia saved her. She protected—"
"She trained her," Lachlan snapped.
He threw a folder onto the glass table.
Photos. Surveillance stills.
Celia. Alfreda. Guns. Corpses. Burning rooms.
Nathaniel flipped through them in disbelief.
Alfreda didn't flinch.
"I didn't remember," she said softly. "Not until the night at the masquerade. The flames triggered it."
"Your first kill was at eight," Lachlan said. "Your second at eleven. You were trained to seduce, infiltrate, destroy."
"Stop," Nathaniel whispered.
Alfreda stood.
"I wasn't just her weapon. I was her favorite. And when the time came, she gave me to you—to spy. To stay close. To slit your throat if you ever betrayed her."
Nathaniel's breath left his body.
"You married me… on orders?"
Alfreda blinked slowly. "No. That part? That wasn't planned. I was supposed to get secrets. Not get addicted."
He backed away from her like she'd turned to fire.
Lachlan smiled coldly. "The Widowmaker never wanted to kill you, Nathaniel. She wanted to own you."
"And now?" he croaked.
Alfreda pulled a phone from her coat. Pressed play.
Celia's voice crackled.
"It's time, darling. Kill Lachlan. Bring me Nathaniel. Then burn everything else."
The betrayal hung in the air like gas waiting on a spark.
Nathaniel stared at Alfreda. "What now?"
She walked to the window.
"Now? We flip the script."
She turned back to them, eyes blazing.
"I'm not killing Lachlan. I'm not delivering you. I'm done being her pet."
Lachlan stood. "You're defecting?"
"I'm choosing my own damn war."
Sirens howled in the distance.
Explosions rocked the far side of the estate.
"She's here," Lachlan growled. "She sent her elite."
The Widowmaker's army had arrived.
Alfreda tossed Nathaniel a gun. "You still trust me?"
He caught it. Nodded once.
"Then let's give her hell."
The battle outside erupted. Blood on marble. Screams in shadows.
But inside—three devils stood united.
Because when the Widowmaker demanded loyalty,
Alfreda gave her vengeance.
And Nathaniel?
He finally understood what it meant to love a monster.
One that chose him over war.